We are first time cat owners. Our kitten is 13 weeks and is very good most of the time, our only problem is his biting. He'll be playing nicely, start getting a little rough by nipping at us then he will sit back, look at us and attack our hands and start chewing. He would usually stop if we were to say "be nice" or "no biting" but now that doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this a theething stage he'll grow out of? Is there anything we can do to get him to stop attacking and biting? He has never attacked our face, just our hands, arms and feet. If anyone has any sugestions, please send them my way.
Lauren

May I suggest that every time your kitten bites your hands to give it a cat toy to divert it's attention to the toy and not your hands. We should "not ever" play with a kitten with our hands or feet. Try not to make quick movements with either your hands or toes as this can cause your kitten to bite you.

I have a 10 week old kitten who does the same thing. We are always try to distract him from playing with our hands by giving him other toys, but he never gives up! I read that biting can be caused from the kitten being seperated from its mother too young, does anyone know if this is true? My kitten was 8 weeks old when we bought him.

as for only biting if taken from mother too early, the"beast" as i like to lovingly call her was hand reared by me!

she attacks me all the time.
my mom is friend but me hates me, i saved her life her mother got sick and could not feed her so i sat up for 3 weeks and did the job (all aspects on raising a 3 week old cat)

she is getting better but have been told that if i had been firmer with her she would not be quite so wild (i was also told that hand reared kittens would be more calm)

Kittens bite and attack anything that moves. They are predators who are practicing stalking, pouncing and attacking. It will get better! It has nothing to do with being taken away from mom too early - it's just instinct.
Agree with N.Kitching - never ever play with your kitten with your hands.

Use toys on strings, like a Kitty Tease, or other toys that keep your hands away from the kitten's teeth and claws.

If the kitten bites you, don't yank your hand away or wave it around - he will think it's an invitation to play. Stop moving your hand and give a sharp "UH UH!!" The instant the kitten lets go, toss him a toy or distract him with string,etc.

If he doesn't let go, gently blow in his face. Do not punish a kitten for these attacks - he won't understand and it will either make him fear you, or make him aggressive.

Lucky Rescue.I have a 3 month old kitten we adopted.We don't play with him with our hands.He has tons of toys.And the one on the stick.But he still bites us like crazy.And man it hurts.We can't give him a stern NO cause he's deaf.We give him a light blow on his face and that pisses him off even more.When he starts to bite us we quickly give him his toy.He plays with that for a bit.Then comes to bite us.Heck he will even come and attack us if we are sitting down.He does have a gentle and loving side to him.And we praise him for that.As the vet said.He even attacks our feet.He loves water so the squirt bottle is out of the question.Heck he jumps in the shower when your having one.
I have even given him a time out in the room.As the vet suggested.But nothing.Any suggestions?

__________________
"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."

I have a 10 wk old kitten and unfortunately he bites all the time and even scratches and bites my face... After a little searching on the Internet i found an article on a website that says if you push down on their tounge after they bite you, it will help them get the point that you will bite back. So far it has worked he bites me less and less.

I am currently trying to stop my 1 year old cat from biteing me after playing with her with my hand and getting some very nasty bites. I know how hard a cat can bite and would not want to put my hand anywhere near her mouth or tongue after she bites me. Not really sure how pushing on her tongue down would work......Sounds a bit cruel really.

Interesting, Never heard of pushing down on the tongue??????? Really????? what website ????

How is this done ?......the cat bites and what......you open its mouth to insert finger and push on the tongue??????

I'd have to say .....HOGWASH to that I only have 8 cats so what do I know? I have always found a stern voice to stop the biting worked , but be sure that the whole household goes by the same rule!!!!!
You can't have one person teaching it then another playing with no concerns of biting, the cat gets confused and doesn't learn properly, this all takes time it is not a learned overnight behavoir.
Good luck

Strange thing though alot of first time posters with the same question......lmao

Welcome all

__________________
"Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs and cats you wanted to."

Like many kitten-owners I have always played with my hands,those little kitty-teeth don't really hurt.Everbody knows when I get a new kitten,my hands look like road-maps Having said that,as they got older,no more hands...because then it hurts!!
Little kittens will chase anything that moves,incuding toes,I am sure a puppy would do the same,that does not mean they are aggressive or bad cats,just very playful and trying to learn the ropes and you have to teach them.
Never ever punish a kitten for being a kitten,aggression feeds aggression,if all else fails have a little mist bottle of water handy.
This tounge depression thing,I don't know about that,firstly if you put your finger in his mouth,won't he just bite down on it?It sounds a little strange to me,but if it has worked for you.....

That's the URL for the exact spot i found it. I don't care what you guys say It worked for my kitty He hasn't bitten me in a week. We'll see who has the last laugh

ok i have to say... i found this site looking for a answer to a bitting kitten. i have tryed to be firm with him and say NO BITES....but that seems to not work.. it slowed it a bit...but than at times it just makes him more agressive.
well he just started to bite me and i tryed this pushing his tounge down.... it worked.... he stopped very fast and i grabbed his toy, and he ran off playing with that.
So to you Sharkieismydawg... and thanks for this info, my hands have been taking a beating.

Umm, I think it's because cats carry a number of super harmful bacteria in their mouths to the point where one bite can cause a severe infection? Or maybe it's just because people want a NICE cat and not one that hurts them every time they go near it. I'm just guessing here.

I have a 10 wk old kitten and unfortunately he bites all the time and even scratches and bites my face... After a little searching on the Internet i found an article on a website that says if you push down on their tounge after they bite you, it will help them get the point that you will bite back. So far it has worked he bites me less and less.

In response to your post, it does work! I work in a dentist office so I didn't mind trying it. When the kitten is biting you hand just stick your finger in his mouth and push down on his tongue. He doesn't like it, he ususally jumps down and wonders why that happened. He will try again, but less and less because he is getting a negative response....Thanks so much for your advice.

I have a couple of kitty hand puppets that I play with my kitten with like her brothers and sisters....she can go to town, kicking and chewing and grabbing and it is completely disasociated from my hands.....
We have never had a problem with any of our 3 cats biting......they all started with hand puppets and were never played with our ankles, feet or hands......

Nessa is now 6 months old and extremely loving and when she wants to play rough, out come the puppets.........the dog's noses work well too...lol

I've grown up with cats, and many of them we've either obtained as kittens, or were birthed on our property. Actually... there has only been one (a stray. barn cat probably) that we took in as a fully mature feline.

I'm now living in a city apartment (versus a country home) and we got a kitten about a month (maybe a little over) ago. Out of the dozen+ cats I've lived with throughout my life, I've never had one as badly behaved as him. He uses the litter box fine, but he is hyper active, and will pounce on anything, whether it's stationary or mobile, sedentary or provoking. For example, he'll violently attack the underside of our coffee table or the broken drawer nob on the side of it, or he'll be sitting on my desk and he'll pounce on and start gnawing on my hands.

Also, he won't learn that things are bad. Like climbing up our legs, climbing up the table cloth to get on the counter or eating our hands/faces. We've tried water, clapping, nose taps, "psssts!"and persistant removal of him from said legs/counter/etc, but he continues on. my roommate apparently sprayed water at him, and he just looked at her then proceeded to lap up the water droplets on the counter. wtf?

Is this kitten just overly obnoxious or are we actually doing something wrong? I've never had a strictly indoor cat, so I don't know if it's the lack of an outdoor environment that doesn't allow for him to have an outlet for energy. He's got some jingle balls and a plethora of paper wads and pens to play with... and we do play with him. I play with him the same way I do with our cats at home --- either by rubbing his belly (thus resulting in a hand attack) or with strings. The only problem with that, is that he attacks our stationary hands and toes, too, where my home-cats do not and never did - it was always when provoked.

Your question made me think of when my brother was 8 or so, and we had a cat that loved to hide behind the long curtains between the livingroom and diningroom, just to surprise us by jumping out and ... biting! We all shooed him off, but he kept coming back. One day my little brother got so fed up, he picked up the cat and bit it across the back! "Miauauau!" was the immediate reaction, and a black-and-white streak up the stairs.

This is my first post on this site, as I just found this thread about 10 minutes ago. Even though this thread was originally started close to 5 1/2 years ago I am thankful people kept posting and I plan to post again after a week or two of trying different advise on how to get my 4 month old to stop biting.

Hi,
I have an 8 week old kitten yet it seems that he is biting more and more. I know this is out of play yet I do not want him to bite friends and so on when they come over. He has already did it to my neighbour when only play biting he claimed it hurt. I have tried alot of ways to get him to stop and rescreached it all yet he does not response to them. I will be cleaning my dishes not even paying attention when he attacks my legs. When I am watching tv he has gotten into the habbit of crawling up my back and that hurts. It seems that he will never clam down and I am doomed to the sctarth marks that I have all over my body. I know what spots not to touch he hates his belly and ears being touched. So i avoid those and try to destract him with a toy does not work.
I know he trains will because he already knows to give paw and bag for a treat (He will get up and swap at the treat in the air. My other cat he use to do that).
I love Charlie he is a joy to have yet between sleeping he is always hyper. He has also started this on my mom who comes to visit. He use to cuddle in with her and now he will not do that. Yet he will get up on my lap and fall asleep purring. Also he is in habbit of chewing on my lap top cords. Ones that would make me broke to replace. I am trying and stressed at max end about how to stop him from doing this. I have taped up the cords yet he just loves that part of my apt. I do not know what to do it seems that what I do is not working help. He likes humans more then all the toys he has. When he even sees my hand (Almost all the time not moving) he is does his attacking retine which is actully so cute to watch.
I know that I will not allow him to bite and he has learned other stuff fast why not this?.
::{{Crystal}}::

This is normal kitten behaviour. Kittens don't hang about like a mature cat does, they have an overwhelming need to play. You have to continually re-direct his behaviour with toys that put you at arm's length from his claws. Anything on a stick, screwed up balls of paper or crinkly balls thrown in the air for him to catch, laser tag, you just have to wear him out with regular play. Hand these toys to your visitors as well.

Isn't there some kind of plastic tubing you can get to cover electric cords? These are particularly dangerous (and as you say, expensive to replace). You will just have to kitten-proof your living space. Put anything that might be risky out of reach or even in a drawer. Make sure he can't get at elastic bands, short pieces of string, twist ties, etc.

A kitten this young can only amuse himself for so long without getting into trouble, like a small child. If he attacks you, withdraw your attention immediately and give him a time out. As he gets older, his little brain will start to make the connection between behaviour that gets him good things (more play) and bad things (being ignored). Patience is the key.
When he climbs you, yell loudly enough to really shock him and put him back down on the floor or even in another room.
Try not to respond aggressively, it will only set things back.

Maybe the mods could make this into a new thread, biting kittens is a recurrent theme.

A kitten,is a kitten,is a kitten,I would suggest another little kitten to keep him company
Double the fun..and they will chew on each other rather than your feet.
Anything dangling,cords etc..is a toy to him,is not only expensive to replace,but can also be a killer to kittens.
Like Badger says,this behaviour will change as he gets older,at 8 weeks,he is just a little furball of play.
Discouraging him from climbing your back or legs by putting him down,no yelling or hitting,will eventually make him understand.